The present invention relates to a pull-on disposable wearing article used for absorption and containment of urine and other bodily exudates.
A pull-on disposable wearing article is known in the art. The article has a waist-hole, a pair of leg-holes, a front waist region, a rear waist region and a crotch region extending between these waist regions. The crotch region is folded inward in a transverse direction along folding guide lines (See Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application No. 2003-10244, hereinafter referred to as Citation).
The article disclosed in Citation comprises a body fluid absorbing zone extending between the front and rear waist regions and having a liquid-absorbent core therein, a pair of end flaps extending in the transverse direction outside longitudinally opposite ends of the absorbing zone and a pair of barrier flaps extending outside transversely opposite side edges. The side flaps extending in the front and rear waist regions are overlapped and permanently bonded together in the vicinity of side edges of these side flaps along a plurality of welding lines arranged intermittently in the longitudinal direction.
Each of the barrier flaps comprises a proximal portion, a pair of longitudinally opposite ends lying on the respective end flaps and collapsed inwardly in the transverse direction and a distal portion extending in the longitudinal direction between the ends. The distal portion is provided with a stretchable elastic member contractibly attached thereto and thereby normally biased to rise up along its proximal edge above the side flap.
The crotch region is formed with a pair of folding guide lines each diverging in a V-shape from a point on a transverse center line of the crotch region toward the respective side flaps. A generally triangular section defined between each of the V-shaped folding guide lines and the associated side edge of the side flap is tucked inward in the transverse direction of the article along these folding guide lines. By tucking these generally triangular sections of the crotch region, a transverse dimension of the body fluid absorbing zone in the crotch region can be reduced to ensure that the absorbing zone can be neatly received in a crotch region of the wearer.
In the case of the article disclosed in Citation, the distal portions of the respective barrier flaps overlying a part of the crotch region are tucked inwardly in the transverse direction of the article together with this part of the crotch region so that each of these distal portions is curved inwardly in the transverse direction of the article substantially in a V-shape. However, zones of the distal portions extending in adjacency to the proximal portions segments may remain collapsed toward the absorbing zone. As a result, it can not be expected for these zones to function as barriers against body fluid and, in the worst case, body fluid may leak out beyond the barrier flaps. In addition, a distance between apices of the barrier flaps is inevitably reduced as the barrier flaps are curved inward in the transverse direction of the article. This may cause also body fluid to leak out beyond the barrier flaps. Furthermore, the zones of the movable segments being collapsed may partially cover the absorbing zone and unacceptably restrain a desired absorbing function.